


I've Got a (Friend's) Car

by Diary



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Awkwardness, Bechdel Test Pass, Condoms, Convenience Stores, Friendship/Love, Getting Together, Hitchhiking, Holding Hands, Hotels, Inspired by Music, Inspired by Teen Wolf (TV), Interspecies Friendship, Interspecies Romance, Jon Snow is a Stark and a Targaryen, Late Night Conversations, Modern Westeros, POV Male Character, POV Nonhuman, POV Samwell Tarly, Past Abortion, Past Abuse, Road Trip, Romance, Sex Talk, Thunder and Lightning, Werebear Samwell Tarly, Werecoyote Brienne of Tarth, Werewolf Jon Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-09 23:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12899577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: Modern AU featuring soon-to-be uni student Sam and hitchhiker Gilly. Also, Sam's a werebear. Complete.





	I've Got a (Friend's) Car

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Game of Thrones.

**Day 1**

Leaving the convenience store, Sam sees a tiny, human brunette with dark brown eyes standing by Jon’s car. “Um, hello,” he greets.

“I want to leave here, and I have a credit card. I can pay for gas and my own food.”

He’s tempted to run away, but he can’t leave Jon’s car, and he’ll never get away from this area himself if he does.

Then, he realises he could just get in the car and drive away.

“And you’re, uh, just asking a stranger?”

She shrugs. “I don’t have a car, and I don’t want to take a bus.”

“I’m Sam,” he offers. “Samwell Tarly.”

Looking as if she couldn’t care less, she extends her hand. “Gilly.”

He shakes it. “Look- Miss Gilly, this is a very-” He fumbles for his words.

“If you’re going to say no, just say it.”

This is probably a terrible idea, reverberates through him. This is how horror movies and psychological thrillers start.

Besides, she could be a hunter, and wouldn’t that just be his luck, dying in this godsforsaken town when he finally has a chance at getting away from the academy?

Changing his eyes, he says, “I’m a werebear.”

“I’m not a hunter, but I have a knife my father taught me how to use. If you don’t try to hurt me, I won’t hurt you.”

“That sounds fair. I’m going to Winterfell, and this car belongs to a mate. He has family I’m dropping it off to.”

“Winterfell’s far enough away for me.”

“Alright. Um, we c-can see if this’ll work.”

She immediately gets in the passenger’s seat.

This is a terrible idea, goes through him.

Nevertheless, he gets in the driver’s side. “Um, instead of the radio, would it be okay if I listened to an audiobook?”

“I don’t care.”

“Any particular preference?” He offers her his MP3 player.

She shakes her head. “I don’t care about music or books, either.”

He’s met people who don’t care about books, but he still can’t quite believe they exist.

Plugging the MP3 player in, he selects The Reckoning of Time, puts his seatbelt on, and starts to drive.

…

Gilly dozes on-and-off until the sky starts turning dusky.

“Do you think we should start looking for a place to eat?”

She nods. “What about finding an inn, first? If they don’t have anything we want, they’ll usually tell you the best other places to eat.”

He hadn’t stopped to consider the fact they’d be stopping at an inn. He knows finding a deserted place and sleeping in the car carries a big risk of getting caught, and even if they take shifts, it’s not exactly feasible to keep driving with only stops for food and bathroom breaks, but he’s never checked into an inn before, and having another person in the mix- How do two people coming in together check into separate rooms?

It’ll be fine, he tells himself. They can go in separately, and as Jon would nicely tell him and his father would harshly, it wouldn’t be the clerk’s business either way.

Soon enough, they come across an inn on the intersection with a vacancy sign. It’s well-lit, and the sign declares it has a pool and offers free Wi-Fi, cable, and a continental breakfast.

“If we have to sign in, I’m using your last name,” she says.

Desperately hoping he didn’t pick up a criminal, an underage girl, or an underage criminal, he says, “That probably won’t work. If you pay for your own room, the credit card will-”

“I didn’t have to give my name to put my money on it.”

“You mean it’s a prepaid debit card?”

“I don’t care what it’s called.”

If he were braver, he’d ask if there’s anything she does care about.

…

Inside, he smiles at the werewolf clerk. “Two rooms, please.”

Nodding, the clerk types on the computer. “Off to uni?”

“I am. I got accepted to Oldtown’s Citadel,” he proudly announces. “My sister’s going to bring the car back after we get to Winterfell.”

Looking up, the clerk says, “You know, a twin room would be cheaper.”

“We’ll take that, then, please,” Gilly says. She hands her card over. “Samwell and Gilly Tarly.”

…

Since she’s paying for the room, he pays for both of their meals.

As they’re eating, she quietly asks, “Are you really heading to Oldtown?”

Nodding, he swallows his mouthful of stew. “I really was accepted to the Citadel. I can’t believe it, sometimes, but I have a letter, and when I called to confirm- Anyway, what about you?”

“I’ll find a job when we get to Winterfell. Is your family proud?”

“Ah, well,” he tries not to fidget, “my mother’s very proud.”

His actual sisters only care a tad more than she does. His father and Dickon can be said to care in the sense they’re disgusted and furious at the embarrassment this is causing them.

“Do you know what you’re going to study?”

“Library science.”

She gives him a confused look.

“I’m going to be a librarian.”

“What’s science have to do with that?”

“Library science is…”

…                                                       

After they eat and bring his stuff to the room, she strips down to her bra and panties, and he has no idea how to react or what to do until he realises she’s filled the bathtub with water, dropped a laundry ball in, and is handwashing her clothes.

“If- if you wanted, you could wear one of my shirts to sleep in,” he offers. “They’ll definitely be too big for you, but I don’t think they’ll touch the floor.”

Studying him for a moment, she smiles. “That’d be nice, thank you.”

He pushes his suitcase over towards her. “Take your pick.”

She closes the door, and when she reopens it, he sees she’s hung her bra over the sink railing, added her panties to the bathtub, and has chosen the t-shirt he always wore to art class. He notices, despite the current fashion trend in human women, she doesn’t have her legs shaven.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No. I’ll be done soon.”

He finds himself truly studying her. Despite being short and petite, she has toned muscles and calloused hands. Earlier, she had her hair in a ponytail, but now, it’s a little past her shoulders and slightly wavy.

The clothes she’s setting in the sink consist of a worn, white blouse, a knee-length, pocketed black skirt with buttons closing the pockets, and knee-high green socks. In her old, brown tennis shoes is her knife, a big, wide blade. She’s had her ears pierced, but she doesn’t have any earrings in them or any other sort of jewellery. She doesn’t even have a watch, he realises.  

After she’s blow-dried the clothes and hung them on the sink railing, she says, “You didn’t live in Mole’s Town.”

“No. My father, he sent me to Night Watch’s Academy when I was twelve.” Sighing, he looks down at his body. “As you can see, I really took to it.”

“He wants you to be a gold cloak?”

“Not exactly. I mean, he’d be thrilled to a have one of his sons be a watchman, but it’s- He doesn’t like softness in men. Didn’t like it when I was a boy, either. We have a farm, and I’m not only his firstborn son, I’m the first child. At one point, he was all set for me to take over the farm someday, only, well, I stopped being a baby, his hopes rapidly died, and then, my brother, Dickon, was born, and all that hope soon transferred to him.”

“My father’s cruel, too,” she quietly says. “In a different way than yours, but still cruel. That’s why I’ve been saving up since I was little.”

“Is he your only family?”

“I had a sister. She left when my mother died.”

“I’m sorry,” he offers.

“I’m sorry for you, too.”

…

**Day 2**

About midway through the morning, Gilly turns off Strange Stone. “Your friend lent you his car, but he’s not coming with you to see his family.”

“No. Jon’s wanted to be a gold cloak since he was a little kid. He’s focusing on that. The family I’m dropping the car off to, they aren’t close. I mean, he’s very close to his parents, but these are his aunt, uncle, and cousins. His parents are going to visit them next weekend, and they’ll take it back to him.”

“Is he a shifter, too?”

He nods. “He’s a werewolf. His dad’s human, but almost all the people on his mum’s side of the family are werewolves.”

“What about your family?”

“My whole sleuth consists of werebears.” In the corner of his eye, he sees her confused expression. “You see, werewolves have packs. Bears have sleuths or sloths.”

“Why?”

“Do you want me to try to simplify it, or do you want a detailed answer?”

To his surprise, she answers, “Detailed.”

…

They stop for lunch at a small diner.

“We’ve been talking about me all morning. What about you?”

“There’s nothing interesting about me.”

“Well, I know that’s not true. You can hand wash and dry clothes in under an hour. You’re around my age, and here you are, out all on your own. You didn’t like where you were, so, you left.”

“I couldn’t do that,” he confesses. “If not for getting accepted to the Citadel, I’d still be at the academy. As much as I hated it, my father wouldn’t let me come back home now that I’m eighteen, and I’d be too afraid to try to make it out in the world all by myself.”

“You’re going to try making it by yourself at the Citadel."

“It’s a little different. I’ll live in the dorms, I’ll work as an aide, and there’ll be affordable meal plans. Out in the world, though, where you have to find your own place to live, remember to pay bills, find your own food- It can be scary.”

The truth is, he’s afraid, even if he does get a decent librarian position, he’ll still manage to utterly fail at life.

“I’ve never met anyone as smart as you,” she says.

“Trust me, you have. Most people just don’t feel the need to talk about everything they know.”

She frowns. “You need to stop doing that. You’ve been nice to me. Not many people have. Stop being mean to yourself.”

“I’m sorry people haven’t been kind to you,” he says. “Aside from Jon and a few of his other friends- of course, my mother’s always been as supportive as she could be, and I got on well with my sisters, but-” He trails off.

“I can read, but it’s not easy. The words never look right. I stopped going to school when I was fifteen, but I couldn’t leave home until I was eighteen. My father would have sent the police after me, and I would have had to go with them. Now, they can’t make me.”

“That’s terrible. Uh-” He digs out his e-reader. “When you say the words don’t look right-”

She gives him a look he’s used to seeing from Jon.

“Just humour me,” he says.

…

“What does ‘alternate history’ mean?”

Glancing over, he sees she’s staring at his e-reader. “Some works of fiction explore what things would be like if history had gone differently.”

“How does changing the words to blue make it easier for me to read? Or why?”

“I’m not exactly sure. I think you have a form of dyslexia. Some people, something about their brain or eyes can’t process letters and, sometimes, numbers normally. One of the tricks that sometimes helps is to change the colour of the letters or the background. When it comes to computers, changing the font can also help.”

He stops at a red light.

“You’re going to be a great librarian, Sam.”

Feeling all warm inside, he says, “Thank you.” Hesitating, he continues, “What about you? Is there anything you really want to do? Even without college, there might still be a way.”

“I just want to be free.”

He could never hate his own dad, but he thinks he might hate hers and all the other dads like his and hers both out there. He’s never been on a date, let alone done anything with a girl, and so, the chances of him ever having children of his own are miniscule, but if he did, he’d find a way to be a good dad. All parents mess up, but no kid of his would end up like him or Gilly, two scared, just-barely adults on the road.

…

“I want to listen to Miss Ceryse’s Adventures.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have the audiobook version of that.”

“Why not?”

He pulls into an inn. “When it comes to books…”

…

**Day 3**

Sometime during the night, it starts raining, and it’s still raining heavily when they have breakfast.

“I hope it stops soon,” Gilly says. “I like the rain, but there’ll be flooding if it doesn’t.”

Sniffing the air, he knows she’s right. “I’ve never liked rain. It always scared me when I was little.”

Buttering her croissant, Gilly shyly looks at him. “There used to be this very pretty weather lady on the TV. I thought she decided what the weather would be like, and one day, I tried to write her a letter. I couldn’t spell, and my letters were all over the page, but I- I asked if her if she’d please make it rain on my birthday with plenty of thunder but no lightning. Our postwoman was very kind, but she shouldn’t have lied. She promised she’d deliver it to her.”

He’s touched she’d tell him this, and he wishes he were better at verbally expressing his own thoughts. True he hasn’t met many girls aside from his sisters in his life, but even if he had, he’d still know she’s one of the most interesting he’ll ever meet.

“Thank you for telling me,” he manages to say.

Her smile turns from shy to pleased.

…

After they leave the inn, they find a convenience store. They get some more laundry balls and a package of panties for her, two raincoats, an umbrella, and more snacks and drinks.

A few hours later, Gilly says, “Sam, we’d better find an inn or somewhere we can stay for a while. It’s only getting worse, and I don’t think it’ll be safe to keep driving for much longer.”

“You’re right.”

He wonders why he didn’t think to check the weather forecast recently, and he’s terrified if he doesn’t get to orientation on-time…

“Gilly, do you want to drive while I try to call Jon? He might be able to find an inn near us online.”

“I don’t know how to drive.”

“Alright, help me find a place to pull over, then.”

Just as they find a place, there’s a large streak of lightning, and she yelps.

He links his fingers through hers. “Hey, it’s okay. It can’t get into the car.”

Squeezing his hand, she visibly shivers. “I’m not afraid of it hitting us. I didn’t even know lightning could do that when I was little. I’ve just always hated it.”

“I’m going to try to call Jon, and we’ll find a place soon. Hopefully, it’ll be an inn, and we can close the blinds and, if they have them, pull the curtains closed. We’ll watch TV or listen to my MP3 player, and it should be easy enough to ignore the lightning.”

Taking a deep breath, she nods.

Unfortunately, he can’t get a signal.    

“We might just have to sit here until-”

Sirens and lights cut him off.

“Oh, gods, if I get arrested, the Citadel won’t accept me, and if anything happens to Jon’s car, he’ll kill me!”

Patting his shoulder, she points out, “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Innocent people can be arrested!”

There’s a knock on the window.

Rolling it down, he’s thankful the officer who might soon arrest him is, at least, considerate enough to hold an umbrella up to prevent rain from getting into the car.

“You kids alright?”

He tries to shove his nervousness aside. The officer is a young werecoyote woman with a badge reading Officer B. Tarth, and she doesn’t seem to be angry.

“Yes, ma’am,” Gilly answers. “We’re from Mole’s Town, heading to Winterfell, but with this-” There’s another streak of lightning, and grabbing his hand, she continues, “Weather, we thought we’d find an inn or some place to wait it out. Only, we can’t get a signal.”

“Yeah,” the officer sighs. “Hell of a storm. But everything’s okay with the car?”

Gilly nods. “Yes, ma’am.”

“If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to a nearby inn. It’s a little on the pricey side, but at the very least, you can wait in the lobby for a while.”

“Thank you,” he breathes out.

Giving a kind nod, she says, “No problem.”

…

They get to the inn, and Officer Tarth leads them inside.

“Thank you for this, officer,” Gilly says.

“No problem.” She hands them both a card. “I’m Brienne Tarth. If either of you need anything while you’re in town, call the station and ask for me. Stay safe.”

She leaves, and Gilly goes to one of the check-in desks. “Could you please tell me if a double or twin room is cheaper?”

Confused, he comes over.

“Uni students, huh,” the werewolf clerk asks with a fond, amused look.

“Sam will be soon,” Gilly answers, and he knows better than to look at her or make eye contact with anyone. “He got accepted into Oldtown’s Citadel.”

He knows he needs to interject and label them siblings again, but before he can get up the courage, the clerk’s handing them a key fob and accepting Gilly’s card. “Room 3 has a king-size, and it's near the ice and vending machines. We’ve recently restocked the condom machine.”

Before he can say anything, Gilly’s reopened the umbrella and is tugging him by hand out the door.

…

“It’s cheaper,” she says.

He’s not sure if it usually is or not. The clerk was clearly being nice to a young couple, only-

“You told me you used to sleep with your sisters. This won’t be any different,” she continues.

Despite knowing there are differences he’s not sure how to properly articulate, Sam notices the unsure look starting to settle on her face. “Right,” he says. “I’d better try to contact the Citadel and see if I can get a hold of Jon. Thank goodness the room has curtains, huh?”

Smiling, she nods before going to the bathroom.

He settles in one of the room’s chairs.

…

“Jon’s on a field trip, I left a message for him, but thank the gods, I managed to get a hold of the Citadel. There’s been patches of bad weather all over Westeros. They’re pushing orientation back to next weekend.”

“Good.” Patting the bed, she says, “Let’s watch TV.”

Coming over, he leans against the headboard.

They find a marathon of old The Flying Septa episodes, eat snacks for lunch, and the sounds of rain and thunder soon fades into the background.

…

After supper, they lie down in the bed, and-

It’d been easier before. He’s had dorm-mates since he was twelve, he’d shared a room with Dickon before then, and as he told Gilly, he’d slept with both his sisters when they were all babies and toddlers. There was someone else in the car he could talk to and another person in the room at night.

Except, Gilly’s beautiful, kind, and smells wonderful. She’s pressed against him, and he could have done without realising he likes her this much.

Never mind the fact she’d never return any non-platonic feelings, he’ll be at the Citadel soon, she’ll hopefully be somewhere she’s happy and safe, and there’s a good chance they’ll never see one another again.

“Sam?”

He shifts onto his side. “Yeah?”

“Have you ever kissed someone? Not family or- What would be the word?”

“‘Platonic’,” he supplies. “No, I haven’t. Have you?”

“Could I kiss you?”

He usually doesn’t focus his senses on others, but concentrating on her, he asks, “Is that something you’d really want?”

The smell of arousal surprises him the most. He’s smelt it directed at other people before, but never at him, and he’s not completely sure it is now. Just because he’s the only other person in the room, well, people can get aroused without it being directed towards anyone in particular.

However, her heart and breathing aren’t significantly abnormal when she answers, “Yes.”

She’s nervous, and this lessens his own nervousness a little, but he can’t hear or smell any trace of deceit.

“I’d like that,” he answers.

He gets lost in everything until he realises his hands are wrapped around her hips and one of her hands has slipped under his pyjama bottoms.

Breaking away, he says, “We should probably slow down.”

“We- just a minute.” Getting off the bed, she goes over to her shoes, takes out the knife, and turns the shoe over her hand. Coming back over, she opens a pill dispenser. “We call them tansy pills in Mole’s Town, but they don’t have tansy in them. The clinic that was doing my prescription said the proper name was combined oral contraceptive pill. I take one every morning at seven. That’s another reason I couldn’t leave until I turned eighteen.”

He nods. There’s been a lot of debate recently about whether the pill should be sold over-the-counter to people of all ages instead of being mostly restricted to adult women. From what he can gather, the majority agree that teenage girls should have a prescription and that stores have the right to err on the side of caution and not sell them to men.

“I’ve been taking them for years. If you don’t want to slow down, we don’t have to.”

Part of him is panicking, but he manages to shove this part away.

He’s been tired of being a virgin for years. He likes Gilly, but he hasn’t known her long enough to love her, and the thing is, he realises, this doesn’t matter. She doesn’t love him, either.

However, he knows he still needs to clarify- “Just so we’re clear about what this would mean-”

“You’re going to the Citadel, and I’ll see if there’s anything in Winterfell for me. If not, I’ll go somewhere else. I believe in the old gods, but I don’t think people having sex without being married is high on their lists when they’re judging good and bad in people. If I’m wrong, I’ll deal with it when it’s time to face them.”

“Jon worships the old gods, too. My family, we’re the sort that only goes to the sept for weddings and funerals.” He braces himself. “If we do this, we need more than just the pill. I can go get some condoms from the vending machine.”

She nods.

…

He selects packages of latex and non-latex condoms in his size.

Usually, he tries not to waste things, and he knows he won’t be using anywhere near all of them, but he doesn’t feel up to going back to the room and trying to figure out what might be best. However, he knows it’s always better to be safe than sorry in situations like this.

Going back to the room, he finds Gilly studying his e-reader. “I’ve been reading about condoms.”

He thinks, if things had been different, he might have found the love of his life four days ago.

Sitting down, he asks, “And what do you think?”

…

**Day 4**

When they wake up in the morning, the rain has stopped.

After showering together, they look up which roads are safe to take, have breakfast, stop at another convenience store, and then, hit the road.

…

**Day 6**

He pulls into Winterfell at 9:32 p.m., and they stop at a burger shop.  

“Are you going to see the Starks, now,” Gilly asks.

“No. I don’t want to show up this late. I’ll call in the morning.”

Nodding, she kisses him. “I wish you luck, Sam. Not that you need it. I know you’re going to be a great librarian.”

When she starts to stand up, he grabs her hand. “Gilly, wait.”

Sitting fully back down, she gives him a curious look.

“Jon bought me a first-class plane ticket. But- if you wanted to come with me, I could exchange it for two coach tickets. If you wanted, I’d really like that.”

Withdrawing her hand, she says, “I had an abortion.”

Confusion is his main feeling.

“When I was fifteen, I took a bus to Dorne. The people at the clinic said that, when I’m ready, I should be able to have a baby. I’m a little sad, sometimes, but if I needed to, I’d do it again.”

Tentatively reaching over, he retakes her hand. “Gilly, if someone hurt you, I’m sorry for that, but I’ve always believed, if a woman thinks an abortion is best, it is. This doesn’t change how I feel about you.”

A beautiful smile crosses her face. “Then, I’d love to go to Oldtown with you.”

…

**Epilogue**

Sitting in Oldtown’s city square, he says, “Hey, Jon, I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier. We’re in Oldtown, and I’ve gotten settled at the Citadel.”

“‘We’?”

“Um, yeah.” He looks over at where Gilly is talking to some locals. “First, I’m surprised none of your cousins or aunt and uncle haven’t already called you. Second, it was very kind of you to buy me a first-class ticket, but I exchanged it. You wouldn’t believe the story I have to tell you.”

“I have the day off. Tell me."

“Well, in Mole’s Town, I came out of a convenience store, and…”

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes: Despite his intelligence, there are things Sam doesn't know/is mistaken about, and his assurance about the safety of the car against lightning was sincere on his part but not completely accurate factually. Being in a car is safer than being fully outside during lightning, but lightning can still hurt people inside a car.


End file.
